Anna Hrudková

“As I came back from a summer cottage, Honza told me: 'It seems that you are investigated by the police.' Then policemen showed up, stating that I should go with them to be questioned. I told them that I wanted to see a summons for an interrogation, that I had to look after two small children and I couldn´t leave them home alone. They said that they would wait for my husband to come, so he would take care of them. Then I was interrogated for the first and also the last time in my life; it was quite a horrible experience. But the good thing was that I was safe, that Honza knew where I was. They asked me about all sorts of things. After some years, as I was recalling this experience, I realised that maybe I attracted their attention by signing the petition supporting Pavel Wonka. As we demanded information regarding his wellbeing and we stated our concerns about his health.”

“From what I heard, I understood it went like this: As there was a house search going on, my mother was in the kitchen, right in the next room. They took the last letter by Jan Patočka. And my father protested. He called my mother, wanting her to come, as he didn´t want to give away the Patočka letter. My mother came from the kitchen, she took the letter, stating that she wouldn´t give it to no one. They twisted her arm behind her back and took the letter by force; and my father got quite angry. As I was told, he threw the man who twisted her arm – which was an offense, as it was when he took the letter from her by force – into duvets and pillows. And then he made up that my father gave him a slap on the face. My father kept insisting that he didn´t slap no one. They would get mad and lock him up. As my father thought the man was just a driver, yet he turned out to be a plain-clothes Secret Police officer.”

“My mother took them to one of the fine rooms so they could do the house search. She told them: 'You have to wait so my husband could put his clothes on.' As my parents were in bed already. My father checked if everything was in order and the house search had begun. I don´t know how many men were there, but there were several. They were searching, going through things. And I saw how they searched our drawer in which we had our photos. Not in an album, but in envelopes. And they searched it. So you had to stand there and watch a stranger going through your belongings, and you could do nothing about it.”